50TH YEAR PARTY ISSUE HOSPITALITY / CULTURE FOOD / LIFESTYLE
50 Years of Glitz! 50 years of glamour and gossip-worthy parties. 50 years of stuff the richest memories are made of. 50 years of path-breaking, rule-making, and convention defying. This is us, raising a toast to 50 more. Because no one does Anything But OrdinaryTM the way we do.
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50 YEARS OF LIVING IT UP!
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We have been around for 50 years and we feel like we are just
Tapping into the ever-shifting pulse of culture, we have collabo-
getting started! Over the years, we’ve been hosting the most
rated with the coolest thinkers and pioneers of creativity, growing
interesting people, the wildest parties and curated unique culinary
into a truly unique collection of boutique hotels across India.
experiences. We have had an incredible journey building The Park
Along the way, we have nurtured relationships with remarkable
brand — making it synonymous with everything that’s hip, exciting,
people who have been an integral part of our story.
and constantly evolving. We’ve reinvented what people think a hotel should be. Back in 1967, when the first Park Hotel opened,
We can’t help but be nostalgic about what feels like a 50-year
we created quite a stir, elevating the idea of urban luxury in
long party! We are excited to continue creating experiences that
Kolkata. It didn’t take long before The Park became the go-to
are “Anything But OrdinaryTM.” It’s what we do best. And who
destination to experience the newest in contemporary hospitality.
better to do it for, than you.
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Stay updated with all the happenings and events during #50YearsOfThePark by
The morning after… rejuvenating yoga and an indulgent open-air breakfast kick-started day two. A relaxed, soul-soothing yacht cruise on the Ganges helped soft-start the day with spa therapies on tap at AURA spa. For a heady dose of culture, there were a host of heritage experiences: a visit to the 200 year old Kalighat Temple, a charming Kolkata tram ride and a curated walk along the historical bylanes of Garden Reach to relive the opulent life of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. A traditional sit down Rajbari royal Bengali meal was accompanied by the classical and fusion sufi music of Sourendro-Soumyojit. The evening ended on a warm and personal note with dinner at The Paul Residence, with a folk-fusion mesmerizing performance by Hari and Sukhmani. The revelry continued back at Tantra, where world famous LED DJ Drummer Afishal translated music into a visual fantasy with his own creation, TREMOR, giving guests an out of body experience. The night ended with Nikhil Chinapa, transporting audiences to another world with his amazing DJ skills to close the night.
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following our social media hashtags: #AnythingButOrdinary #BlackandGold #50andfabulous
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50 hours of partying started with a fabulous champagne evening that flowed in to a specially curated gastronomical experience. The night was packed with entertainment. Decadence of the 50’s jazz scene in Kolkata was recreated with talent flown in from Europe. Someplace Else hosted an evening of music through the ages with Ehsaan and Loy jamming with some of our amazing local talent: Avinash Chordia, Amyt Datta, Arunima Dasgupta, Stu Munor and Neel Adhikari. Tantra amped up the volume with top Bollywood DJ Kiran Kamath, while DJ Anish Sood kept the energy going all night at Roxy. To end this Anything But OrdinaryTM celebration, we took our guests on a night walk through the hotel, stopping at secret spots to refuel on flavours of street food with The Park twist.
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1 An evening of champagne, glitz and glamour with ‘Cheers!’ from the senior management of The Park 2 A night of Bollywood and mischief at Tantra 3 The Park Kolkata 4 Priya Paul and Sethu Vaidyanathan 5 Bronwyn Latif and
1 & 2 A heritage tram ride and river cruise on the Ganges 3 Ranvir Shah 4 DJ Nikhil Chinapa at Tantra 5 Priya Paul with Rohit Bal and Shiba Shaw 6 Maina Bhagat, Priya Paul, Uma Ahmed and Sister Cyril 7 Indrani Dasgupta
Peta Mathias 6 Ehsaan Noorani 7 Miss Banburry Cross, one of Europe’s most popular burlesque acts 8 Anwesha Mukherjee, Pooja Gupta, Tina Mukherjee, Swastika Mukherjee, Anindya Chatterjee, Shubha Kenworthy, Priyanka Pal
8 Stunning decor at The Paul Residence 9 Manoviraj Khosla and Bina Shrikent 10 Raj Kejriwal and Divia Thani 11 Sukhmani Malik of the Hari-Sukhmani band 12 DJ Afishal at Tantra 13 Subodh Gupta and Priti Paul 14 Shirin Paul, Meeta
and Sneha Ghosh 9 Gatsby’s Gramophone, jazz swing band 10 Karan Paul 11 DJ Kiran Kamath at Tantra 12 Food reimagined
and Vikram Madhok 15 Vijay Dewan 16 Varun Thapar and Ratul Sood 17 Arvind Vishwanathan, Malini Ramani and Ameeta Seth 18 Sourendro-Soumyojit at the Rajbari lunch 19 Suresh Nair
Rewind TRAVELLING BACK IN TIME
Tanya Sen is a powerhouse. Her exceptional voice was heard at Someplace Else, where she performed with Ehsaan and Loy at our 50 year party. Here she shares why The Park inspires her music.
“The first live music venue I ever went to was Someplace Else at 16. By that age I knew I wanted to do music professionally and my parents took me to Someplace Else to hear a live band on my 16th birthday. I remember Hip Pocket was playing that night. This is where it all started for me. The very next year I was on stage with a monthly contract with Crystal Grass and this journey continued for the next 10 years. We were the first band to start the late night slot which was from 11 pm and I was still in school. This is where we would work, and if we wanted to party, this is where we would go to. Someplace Else has always been home, and those weekly gigs year after year totally shaped me as a musician. This has been an integral part of my career and I can’t imagine otherwise.’’
Rewind is a cheeky wink at the years of party-creatures, rule-makers and trendsetters that have shimmied through our doors. Everything else changes, but The Park has, and always will be host to the world’s most unique people. Here we feature photographs and stories that capture some memorable times.
The romantic Biswajit Chatterjee and the ever so suave
The charming Randhir Kapoor and friends at The Park
Kabir Bedi at The Park Kolkata
Kolkata
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50 Years: The music lives on!
The Park Inspiration Book
The Park Inspiration Book captures it all. It is a compilation of Living, The Park Magazine; anthologies of offbeat stories, little-known secrets every city keeps, a celebration of cutting edge design and encounters with passionate creators. These issues, published over the last ten years showcase global trends, contemporary style and inspired living, all through the unique telescope of The Park Hotels. The Park Inspiration Book is about everything that is Anything But OrdinaryTM.
Available for sale at The Box shop across all our hotels
The Park thrives on creativity and innovation. Whether it’s the art we curate, the musicians we host, the food experiences we offer, or the stay we extend to our guests. Holding all of this together, is our love and appreciation for great design. For our guests, this means being continuously delighted by luxury and hospitality which is Anything But OrdinaryTM.
50 years of emotions on high. There is a magic that only live music can make you feel. And we, at The Park have had the privilege of hosting some of the world’s greatest bands that have included Mumford & Sons, Venga Boys, Blot!, Indian Ocean, Nucleya, MIDIval Punditz, Michael Learns to Rock, FireHouse, Shankar Ehsaan and Loy, Parekh & Singh, Baiju Dharmajan Syndicate, DJ Aqueel, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Nucleya, Shiva Moon, Thermal Project, Pearl, Voctronica, Dualist Enquiry and many more...
TO THE NEXT 50... www.facebook.com/theparkhotels www.twitter.com/parkhotelsindia www.instagram.com/theparkhotels
Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Ltd. Apeejay Techno Park B-11/42, Mohan Co-operative Industrial Estate Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044, India
Toll free 1800 102 PARK (7275) www.theparkhotels.com For more information, please email us at pr.corp@theparkhotels.com
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SPOT Vocalist In Vogue